Monday, January 21, 2008

Today : We all scream for ice cream

So there I was hobbling my eccentric way around the supernarket. Towards me came a young woman of about 20 or so. Perhaps a student. She was clearly on her way to somewhere in the shop, having perhaps forgotten to get tea bags or pita bread or whatever, and was charmingly lost in her own little world, her head moving minutely from side to side, almost dancing as she walked to some internal rhythm. As she approached I noticed she was singing to herself. It was odd, only as I was pulling into the car-park I was listening to the very same song (Ice Cream by the New Young Pony Club - pop-pickers) and it had been spinning though my head all the way round the aisles. As she got closer she sang:"I can give you what you want..."I was about two feet away and it was perfect timing. I sang back:"I can make your heart beat short".For half a beat a look flashed across her face, kind of part embarrassment and part surprise. I myself felt a little embarrassed. A completely square looking, tubby middle aged man singing the next line of suggestive pop song back to a fresh-faced student girl in the crisp aisle of Morrisons. This kind of thing could misfire and get a person a reputation, or even arrested. But then the funniest thing happened, she allowed the beat of the song in her head to reach the next line and sang it back to me whilst doing a comic and silly little finger pointing dance.

"I can make you ice creamWe could be a sweet teamMelting in your vice dreams, sport."

It was quite a perfect performance and made me smile. She herself broke up laughing and then grinned sheepishly, and without breaking our stride we both carried on our shopping in opposite directions.